Usually, the desing of your own logo is at the very beginning of a start-up. In addition to the orientation of the portfolio, customer acquisition and all kinds of bureaucratic challenges, sooner or later the question arises as to how one’s own actions should be presented to the outside world. This applies to companies and start-ups as well as to freelancers or associations.
In order to establish your own identity, the so-called corporate identity. The choice of the appropriate corporate design is of decisive importance. A corporate design always includes a suitable logo. On the one hand, this should represent the company and, ideally, also ensure recognition value among the target group. The decision whether to hire a professional logo designer for your own logo design or whether a logo template can possibly lead to the goal depends on various factors.
What is a logo supposed to achieve?
When choosing the right logo creation, you should first keep in mind what a logo is actually supposed to do. Most founders probably have the goal of recognition in mind. Anyone who sees the logo should immediately associate it with the company. Furthermore, at best, he associates not only the company or club name, but also the comprehensive corporate identity including the corporate values and philosophy, unique selling points and possibly also the offer.
A logo not only has an influence on the external perception of the company, but is also an important factor for branding. A good logo is not created exclusively according to aesthetic requirements. When designing the logo, the target group, the competitors and, above all, the company values must not be ignored.
What are the options for creating a logo?
The type of logo creation depends first of all on the design skills available in the company itself. However, if you assume the most common case that there is no in-house specialist, there are basically four options for creating a logo.
Design and branding agencies
The obvious thing to do is to hire an agency for logo design. For established and successful companies that want a new logo after a change in corporate values or management, or possibly want to have their logo refreshed, a professional design agency is certainly the right choice. For associations, freelancers and founders, on the other hand, such an assignment often simply fails due to lack of budget. This is because the costs for the creation of a professional logo design by a design or branding agency start at an average of 2,500 euros.
Freelancer
Many small businesses and self-employed people do not have a very high budget, especially in their start-up phase. If you still want to work with professional designers, you have the option of hiring a freelancer. The choice of a suitable freelancer is of course based on the portfolio and experience of the designer on the one hand and on the other hand on his form of invoicing.
If you hire a freelance designer, you should definitely clarify in advance how the performance of the logo creation is calculated. Some freelancers charge for their services by the hour, while others set a fixed price for the project. In the latter case, for example, it must be clarified to what extent change requests are included in the pre-agreed price.
Logo Contests
Some freelancers today also offer logo creation in the form of contests, which work similar to a tender for a designer community. For such logo competitions, the customer first creates a briefing. This briefing should briefly introduce the company and its field of work and ideally also contain specifications about the type of logo. Afterwards, prize money will be determined. Most logo contest sites set a minimum amount, which averages between $200 and $300.
Once the prize money has been determined, the brief will be made available to the designer community for review. Depending on the estimated prize money, how lucrative the job is, designers now take part in the competition by creating matching logos. The customer receives all approved designs for viewing and can evaluate them directly. After a fixed period of time, which is usually between seven and ten days, the decision for a logo design is said to have been made. The responsible designer receives the prize money, the customer the logo.
Logo Template in Logo Generator
Probably the most cost-effective way to create a logo is to design your own logo in a logo generator with a generic logo template.
Most websites that offer logo creation with logo templates advertise the intuitive usability of their logo editor. Nevertheless, it can’t hurt to think about your future logo before using such a logo generator for the first time.
Because the selection in these logo makers is usually very large. Without clear ideas, you quickly get lost in the countless variants and, as a layman, are usually overwhelmed with the first decision about the right logo template. A concept with the most important ideas about coloring, font and logo type can limit the choice of the right template from the outset and ultimately make it easier.
Online templates to create logos
DesignEvo
The DesignEvo website offers a free logo editor with more than 7,000 logo templates. The use is intuitive even for laymen. The user can search for a suitable logo template either via different categories or with a keyword. Once a suitable template has been found, there are many possibilities for your own logo design. The templates can be changed, individualized and adapted according to your own ideas and needs.
With a little practice and the additional choice of different fonts and symbols, DesignEvo can create your very own logo. The user receives the self-designed logo in the standard version free of charge as a JPG or PNG file. As a high-resolution SVG and PDF file and for further upgrades, DesignEvo offers two demand-oriented packages, both of which are in the affordable price range.
Templatemonster
At templatemonster, too, the selection of the right logo template is made easier by selecting a category. The main difference in choosing a suitable logo template here is between a unique and a non-unique template. This is because most customers have inhibitions about choosing a logo template. Which may already be used by a large number of competitors.
Templatemonster therefore offers the choice of the unique logo template. This means that the logo template is purchased at a so-called “unique price” and is exclusively available to the user. After downloading, the corresponding logo is deleted from the database. The price for a logo template starts at around 20 euros.
Logaster
Logaster offers a particularly fast variant of logo creation. Here, too, the customer first selects a category that matches the logo. Then the company name and, if desired, a claim or slogan are entered. In the generator, Logaster then offers a selection of suitable logo templates that can be customized. The drafts can be saved if an account has been created.
Once the logo has been created, the logo can be downloaded in low resolution or shared via social networks. Exclusive use on the Internet costs 20 euros. A logo for online and print media with other options such as black and white or as a negative costs 50 euros.
Result
A logo template is particularly suitable for companies, businesses and self-employed people with a relatively small budget. However, this does not have to mean that a logo template will create any logo without recognition value. It is much more important whether the logo creator himself has a precise idea of his future logo. The better he deals with his target group, his competitors and his own corporate philosophy before looking for a suitable logo template. The easier the decision for a template will be afterwards.
Of course, these preliminary considerations also include thoughts about the type, shape and color of the future logo. If you have very clear and channeled ideas about your future logo that you can’t implement yourself. You may be better off with a freelancer or even a design competition. This is because it offers the opportunity to directly influence the design of the logo and to have change requests implemented quickly. However, if you have the time and patience to deal with a logo editor and the creation of your own logo. You may achieve a great result, which reflects your own identity all the more.